Teen mental health in US has improved post-pandemic, new CDC data says

A published research by the CDC reveals that symptoms of despair among adolescents in America have eased, particularly among the teenage girls. 
 
But, the survey and experts mentioned, that the threat persists, for some indicators deteriorated in the latest report. Special attention should be paid to the group of students who did not attend school because they did not feel secure. 
 
The executive director of Attendance Works, a nonprofit that aims at addressing the problem of students’ truancy Hedy Chang said in an interview to the Guardian that she was pleased to notice a little improvement of the situation with teenagers’ mental health. “I believe schools understood that there is a need to allocate more resources to social emotional well being and to the students’ sense of inclusion. ” 
 
It was a message echoed by top officials at the CDC, that came with a caveat: “The CVD rates published today and other indicators that can characterise the status of young people with MHWB have been positively changed – progress we can make,” said Dr Debra Houry, CDC’s chief medical officer and deputy director for program and science, in a statement behind the data. 
 
“But this work is far from done”, added Houry. “All children must feel protected and welcome, and CDC will keep translating these numbers into actions until that change is achieved. ” 
 
The new data is derived out of the CDC’s Youth Risk Behavior survey that concerns with sexual behavior, substance use, violence, and mental health of the high school students as conducted every other year. These experiences are assessed by the survey with reference to six categories: gender, sexual identity, race, ethnicity and grade, and the survey started in 1990. 
 
This report analyzes information from 2023, and presents the survey’s results for the first time since the previous year, 2021. Next, facing Covid-19 pandemic, observers noted the further worsening of the young’s mental health crisis, which prompted American Academy of Pediatrics to issue call for a national emergency on child’s mental health. 
 
The data reflects that between 2021 and 2023, there was hope or sprouts of development noticeable. Although the general conclusion regarding students having persistent feelings of sadness or hopelessness has been reduced to 40% from 42%. The impressions of the female students were also lower, the number of the students who are total agree decreased from 57% to 53%. 
 
Hispanic students similarly experienced reductions in feeling that they are persistently sad, poor mental health status and lower considerations for suicide attempt and having a suicide plan. Regarding suicide attempt, black students were also less likely to report this in this survey, the percentage having attempted suicide reduced from 14% to 10%, and those who got injured during such attempts reduced from 4% to 2%. 
 
Other challenges persist. Girls and the LGBTQ+ students’ ways of life are again depicted in the report as being affected differently by youth mental health issues. Girls are or are more likely to be worse off than boys in almost all the indicators of substance use, violence, mental health, and suicidal tendencies. LGBTQ+ youth have same or even worse experiences; 3 out of 5 children go through persistent sad or hopeless feelings. 
 
Unfortunately, the survey also detected that concerning trends in school safety are also in a worse direction. More learners reported being bullied at school (15% to 19%) in the period 2021-2023; more students stated they were absent from school due to safety reason (from 9% to 13%). Of the respondents, 7% fared threatened or injured at school, a figure that rose to 9% this year. 
 
When it came to boys, the general attitude changed from neutrality to mildly positive, moving from 26% to 44%, the girls and the Asian American students’ negative sentiments rose even more dramatically, increasing to 16% and doubled for the Asian Americans from 5% to 10%, the students who said they missed school because of safety. 
 
“I’m Chinese American, and personally I feel less safe in the United States than I did 10 years ago,” said Chang. “I am not shocked that among the young people who would rather stay home or skip a gathering, one of the groups is Asian American kids. ” 
 
Chang continued: “When we are in a world outside that excludes people – blames people for the pandemic and says they are a threat to the wellbeing of society you wonder how that manifests itself in schools? Becoming schooled is always to some extent becoming socially formed.